Human Misery, from the Volpini Suite: Dessins lithographiques
Medium
zincograph, on simili-Japan paper; second edition
Dimensions
11 9/16 x 9 5/16 in. (29.4 x 23.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Scofield Thayer, 1982
Accession Number
1984.1203.47
Tags
Art Historical Context
"Human Misery" is a poignant print from Paul Gauguin's *Volpini Suite:ins lithographiques* (9), a rare series of zincographs created during a pivotal moment in the artist's career. Produced amid the buzz of Paris's Exposition Universelle, these works were first exhibited at the modest Café des Arts run by Luigi Volpini, offering Gauguin an alternative venue to showcase his bold, expressive style outside the official salons. As a Post-Impressionist, Gauguin drew Symbolism and Primitivism, infusing this image with raw emotional intensity—evident in the anguished faces of men and women amid stark...
About the Artist
Paul Gauguin|Ambroise Vollard · 1848–1903
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was a French Post-Impressionist painter whose bold experiments with color, form, and subject matter made him one of the most influential figures in the transition from 19th-century art to modernism. His rejection of European civilization for the perceived authenticity of 'primitive' cultures established an archetype of artistic exile that continues to resonate. Gauguin's ...